Especially when it comes to this sentence within it: "Because these facial regions are important in the communication between humans, facial cues of sleep deprivation and fatigue may carry social consequences for the sleep deprived individual in everyday life."

I'd imagine many of us with Narcolepsy can find a relation to this, and the 'social interactions/consequences' element that relates to having such.

For me the droopy, purple under, the eyes and now in addition I can add, to my own noting of specifically, the lips drooping (from the articles descriptions), has always been there and it has had an effect for sure. Commonly I am awfully serious, I will admit that, but the seeming 'never' not serious and/or always 'down/sad/angry' is played into by the sleep deprivation effect/s...

I find it physically difficult to smile. It can actually hurt. Most people refer to me as a grump, and having such a dry sense of humor most people can't tell when I'm joking. I tend to do much better over the phone/skype with people that face to face or using a webcam.

My youngest sister was...5-6 when my mom died, and as part of her therapy she was asked to draw her family. She drew me with a frown while everyone else was smiling. Therapist asked why I wasn't smiling, she said "He never does".

I'm not an unattractive person, but I've never been approached by anyone in person, even on online dating sites in the past, possibly because of this. Resting asshole face... It all makes sense now. Guess I should try "Blue Steel" next time?

Those articles are just examples of the shallowness of some human beings who think that the outside package (which, for them, has to be perfect)tells it all. I wanna see laugh lines around the mouth and eyes...some depth of character in those soulful eyes that reflect life's ups and downs. I want a face that lights up if I make them laugh...not one that's permanently lit. Perfection of the soul is sooooo much sexier.YMMV.

I don't know if you can call it shallow; it's built into our DNA, and a persons face is (generally) the first thing we are exposed to with new people. Seeing someone with any expression on their face will establish how we perceive them, and goes back to caveman days. Just a simple non-verbal communication method, and one more thing we have to try to overcome, though, generally I'm too tired to really give much of a thought to how others perceive me, and if people leave me alone because I look like I'm in a bad mood, well, fine by me 'cause I'd rather not have to go through social niceties sometimes

I'm stepping out on a limb here 'cuz I believe that this link is related to present day societies perceptions of "the way we should behave". The comments are also worth reading.http://www.ted.com/t...ttom_left_image

When you are deep in thought and contemplation, is there a smile on your face?

Ferret, I'm completely with you, yet I do still feel there's an element of impact.

As you were perhaps, somewhat, saying though Ferret.

We live in a very 'unconscientious' society and culture, full of near instant judgements and stereotyping, upon/of others.

On topic of the 'resting asshole face' I do think there is a more dramatic impact upon social interaction abilities, caused by the sleep deprivation facial effect/s; likely for many of us, and for some, more so, than for others. For myself, I have a very low toned voice, broad shoulders, and I am humble, but I'm either in appearance always intensely mad/angry, or sad 'seeming' (it seems). And, as perhaps you can see, directly within this post, I say things that can be quite irritating; I don't like blinders. Yet, I do try an smile, often and for sure daily! I'm smiling often, it feels like, however to be actually noted as smiling it seems like I have to lift a 50lb. weight or something, with my face...

We live in a very 'unconscientious' society and culture, full of near instant judgements and stereotyping, upon/of others.

Like I said above, it's bred into us. Our survival makes instant judgements and stereotyping a necessity. If your ancestors stopped for a second to think that man from the neighboring tribe might not be angry, and just sleep deprived, there's a good chance he'd wind up dead.

Yeah, we've evolved since then, but things like that aren't likely to change, it's in there deeply.

I'm with you on the social impact. Most European women I've met, particularly Polish, Romanian, Russian, all think I hate them for some reason. Many others call me "unapproachable". I'm blunt, I'm too tired to spend 20 minutes choosing my words. That also gets me in to trouble. People seem to look for a deeper meaning in what I say. It's the whole "No, you don't look fat in that dress" argument. "What, so I look fat in other dresses then?!?!" FML.

Low brows, yeah, but I don't think anyone's actually documented their facial expressions - if it's even possible. Also there are the subtle social cues that our body language uses that would likely be very different. They may have had subtle cues we wouldn't know.

Then again, most days I feel like a caveman. Grunting when I get up, brow heavy, hunched over, can't think straight. All I need is a club and some animal skins.

I get people saying "you look very tired" even at my most alert times. When I'm really tired, people regularly think that I've been crying, and on a few occasions they've been convinced I was high or drunk! It's very flattering…

Haha I didn't realize the solemn facial expression was typical in narcolepsy. I thought that was just one of my own personal quirks. But yes I've had friends tell me that I look angry several times, even though I'm usually in a fine mood. I think the people who know me notice it more, because I love to laugh and joke around as often as I can, but when I'm idle my facial muscles feel like lead weights. In fact if I'm walking around campus and I see someone I know, even if I like them, I'll often try to avoid getting too close or making eye contact because I don't want to have to make an effort to smile and say hello.

Perhaps somewhat related to this, I've also had several people, including some of my closest friends, tell me they're unable to tell if I'm telling the truth about something or lying. It actually prompted me to try straight up lying (only harmless lies) to random people a few times, making things up on the spot, just to see if they voice skepticism or become standoffish. No one caught any of the lies, so I reckon I have a pretty good poker face. Of course, on the flip side, I'm pretty sure that people often think I seem ingenuine when I'm honestly trying to be nice. It may be one of the reasons I have such a hard time breaking the ice with people I don't know, not sure...

I'm told I have a nice smile when I can muster one up and I know, at least for me, if I can inject humor into a situation and laugh a bit it really helps put people at ease.